Stephen Sondheim

In the past, we’ve looked at various types of songs found in musicals such as the “I want” songs where a character lets the audience know his or her reasons for doing things. In this week’s Dress Circle (7/14 7:00 p.m.), we’re going to be looking at ‘story songs” which are, oddly enough, songs that tell stories. Sometimes, those stories are life-histories, but many times, they act as allegories.

The end is nigh! Well, the end of the year, that is. Welcome to December, and to kick off the month of wishes and gifts, we’re going to be looking at a dozen musicals that opened in New York this month on this week’s Dress Circle (12/7 7:00 p.m.). We’ll be looking at 125 years of musical history, from Victor Herbert’s “The Ameer” in 1899 through to the 2024 revival of “Gypsy” that starred Audra McDonald and Danny Burstein.

We’re turning to our third and final (for now) program of Literary Based Musicals on this week’s Dress Circle (11/30 7:00 p.m.), and we’re once again looking at four very different works from Broadway, television, and London's West End.

It’s Ted’s Turn.As promised, we’re looking at some of Ted’s favorites on this week’s Dress Circle (10/26 7:00 p.m.) that will include three songs from his favorite musical (He actually as one of those.), Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies.”

Although it doesn't happen as much as it once did, hit songs from the musicals do occasionally make the Billboard charts, and we'll be looking at a least a dozen of them on this week's Dress Circle (10/12 7:00 p.m.). We're including three number one hits in Louis Armstrong's version of "Hello, Dolly!", The 5th Dimension's version of "Aquarius / Let the Sun Shine In" from "Hair," and "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from "Encanto."

We put a great deal of thought into this week’s Dress Circle (9/14 7:00 p.m.), and we came up with a program of songs that think, are thinking, and have a thought.

September is said to be the “doorway to autumn’s poetry.”We don’t know who said it, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to celebrate it on this week’s Dress Circle (9/7 7:00 p.m.) as we look songs from some of the shows that opened this month.We’re going to be covering 124 years of Broadway history this month.

We’re airing equal time on this week’s Dress Circle (8/17 7:00 p.m.) as we look at duets written for two male characters from the musicals.

Thanks to John, a listener from Mercer County, we’re looking at a new theme for this week’s Dress Circle (8/10 7:00 p.m.) in a program we’ve titled “Duets for Her.” We’ve programed a baker’s dozen of duets for the ladies with some being sincere and others being sincerely snarky. (We prefer the snarky.)

A Tempo Saturday (8/2) features a conversation about the Library of Congress's acquisition of the late composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's manuscripts, notes and other papers.